1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to preservers, and more particularly, to moisture absorbing preservers including an expandable bladder surrounded by an absorbing member, all disposed within a moisture permeable cover adapted to deodorize and maximize the draw of moisture from all interior surfaces of a protective covering, such as a shoe, boots, gloves, a helmet and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various solutions have been proposed to deodorize, and remove moisture from a shoe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,669 to Khoury et al. discloses a shoe preserver having a wicking portion and an absorbing portion retained within a flexible porous covering. However, the shoe preserver of Khoury et al. is not expandable to snugly fit within shoes of various sizes and shapes. Khoury et al. shoe preserver is specifically made for a particular size and shape of a shoe. Furthermore, since the Khoury et al. shoe preserver is not expandable, it cannot completely come in contact with all interior surfaces of a shoe thereby limiting the ability of the shoe preserver to maximize that moisture drawn from within the shoe.
Likewise, the following other conventionally devices also fail to maximize the amount of moisture being drawn from within the interior of a shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,036 to Hirschberg discloses a shoe drying device having a porous semi-rigid plastic foam wherein the foam defines a cavity which is filled with a powdered desiccant material. U.S. Pat. No. 896,536 to Hayden discloses a shoe tree having an absorbent sponge material surrounded by a porous fabric, wherein a wooden block or piece is disposed within the sponge material to provide for insertion and removal of the shoe tree. U.S. Pat. No. 2,173,528 to Beale discloses a disinfectant pad including an absorbent material enclosed by a porous covering.
There is still a longstanding need to solve this problem. In accordance with this invention, an exemplary moisture absorbing preserver having an expandable bladder surrounded by an absorbing member, all disposed within a moisture permeable cover adapted to deodorize and maximize the draw of moisture from all interior surfaces of various protective coverings, such as a shoe, boots, gloves, a helmet, and the like.